124 BIRDS OF CHESHIRE. 
It is doubtful whether the Short-eared Owl breeds in 
Cheshire at the present time, although it has been seen 
in summer on the Eaton Estate by Mr. H. Garland, and 
it used to nest regularly on Carrington Moss until the 
year 1893. By that time all the moss-land had been 
reclaimed, but a pair of birds succeeded in rearing a 
brood. The young birds were seen on the wing during 
the summer, but unfortunately they were slain on the 
1st of September by the partridge-shooters. The bird 
is well known to the gamekeepers on the moors of 
East Cheshire as a winter visitor; but our inquiries, 
both in Longdendale and on the hills near Macclesfield, 
have failed to elicit any information about its nesting 
there, although Mr. F. B. Whitlock states that it breeds 
on the contiguous Derbyshire moorlands.” 
TAWNY OWL. 
SyRNIUM ALUCO (Linnezeus). 
Brown Owl, Wood Oul. 
In the parks and woods of the Cheshire Plain the 
Tawny Owl, although much persecuted by game- 
preservers, is a fairly common resident. In such 
places as the parks at Eaton, Tatton, Tabley, Alderley, 
and Dunham Massey, where the hollow trees provide 
it with nesting-holes in abundance, its melodious hoot 
may be heard almost any still evening. In Wirral 
this Owl appears to be rare, for although Byerley 
mentions that it breeds in Stanley Wood, Eastham? 
it is not included in Brockholes’ list. Mr. K. H. 
1 Dobie, op. cit. p. 311. 
2 Whitlock, Birds of Derbyshire, p. 121. 1893. 
3 Byerley, op. cit. p. 11. 
